If I were PM, I would de-Zionize Israel and quit

[azurnoir]

7. yes the Tantura affaire' is rather interesting

as it is known that a mere 70-75 Arabs were killed prior to the village being 'evacuated' no massacre there
more

Tantura was part of an Arab enclave cutting off the road from Tel Aviv to Haifa.[16] On May 9, 1948, a decision was made to "expel or subdue" the villages of Kafr Saba, al-Tira, Qaqun, Qalansuwa and Tantura.[31] On May 11, David Ben-Gurion advised the Haganah to "focus on its primary task", which according to Ilan Pappe was the bi'ur (lit. cleansing) of Palestine.[32] According to Tiroshi Eitan, Tantura was ready to surrender in early May but not to relinquish its arms.[33] The Alexandroni Brigade launched an attack on Tantura under cover of darkness without waiting for the village to surrender.
Operation Namal

The British were in control of the Haifa port area until April 23, 1948.[34] The rest of the city fell to the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah commanded by Moshe Carmel in Operation Misparayim. After the fall of Haifa, Arab villages on the slopes of Mount Carmel began attacking Jewish traffic on the main road to Haifa. The task of the Alexandroni Brigade was to reduce the Mount Carmel pocket. Tantura was chosen as the starting point for this operation, codenamed Namal, which took place on the night of May 22–23.[35] That night, Tantura was attacked and occupied by the Brigade's 33rd battalion. The attack commenced with heavy machine gun fire, followed by an infantry attack from all landwards sides with an Israeli naval vessel blocking off any chance of escape to the sea. By 800hrs on May 23, the battle was over, encountering little resistance.[36] According to an unsigned Haganah report, dozens of villagers were killed and 500 were taken prisoner (300 adult males and 200 women and children).[37]

Most of the villagers fled to the nearby town of Fureidis and territory controlled by the Arab League in the Triangle region near to what was to become the Green Line.[25] Women prisoners were taken to Fureidis.[38] On May 31, 1948, Bechor Shitrit, Minister of Minority Affairs of the Provisional government of Israel, sought permission to evict the Tantura women from Fureidis due to overcrowding, lack of sanitation and the risk of information being passed to unconquered villages.[39] A Ministry official, Ya'akov Epstein of Zikhron Ya'akov, who visited Tantura shortly after the operation, reported seeing bodies, but said nothing of a massacre. In 1998, Yihiya Yihiya published a book on Tantura recording the names of 52 dead.[40] The occupation of the village was followed by looting. Some of the items recovered by the Haganah included 'one carpet, one gramophone ... one basket with cucumbers ... one goat'.[41] The male prisoners of war were held on the beach before being transferred to Zichron Ya'akov police station[38] and put into labour battalions.[42]

In 1964, the IDF released an official history of "The Alexandroni Brigade in the War of Independence" in which 11 pages were devoted to al-Tantura. There was no mention of any expulsion. In 2004, Alexandroni veterans acknowledged the forced expulsion.[43]

This page was last modified on 16 April 2012 at 20:15.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantura#Operation_Namal

resource cited as 43 above

http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-02-06morris-the-jerusalem-report-tantura.pdf